Wanted: New Windows in Comparative Literature

On March 6, 2014, Cree novelist and playwright Tomson Highway presented the annual Henry Kreisel Memorial Lecture of the Canadian Literature Centre at the University of Alberta. In his brilliant, amusing and provocative talk, entitled “Understanding Each Other: The Essential Importance of Multilingualism through the Prism of Cree, French, and English,” Highway reminded the standing room only audience that speaking only one language was like living in a house with only one window. In such a house, you have only one perspective on the world.